


Joker

by Editor7



Category: The Beatles
Genre: Flirting, Love, M/M, Songwriting, Third Person Limited, also comedy because there always has to be a little, finally over 1000 words, implications of sex, lame humor, looking out a window
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-15
Updated: 2017-01-15
Packaged: 2018-09-17 15:08:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,077
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9330791
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Editor7/pseuds/Editor7
Summary: Sure, John flirts with Paul all the time, but it's not like it means anything. Pfft...





	

**Author's Note:**

> Not sure where this one came from, but I had to Google a lot of things to write it. Eventually I just said "screw it, this is taking too long"
> 
> Thank goodness I figured out how to do the italics.

Ringo peeked out the hotel window at the crowd far below. "Wow, the girls sure are going nuts out there."

"I wanna go nuts with a girl," murmured George.

"What?"

"I said, they have their reasons," George abandoned his marbles on the floor to join the drummer at the window. "I mean, we're a big deal to them, you know? Sometimes I forget what a big deal we're supposed to be."

"I try not to think on it, don't want to get a big head," Ringo advised. "I just wish they didn't scream in the mornings when I'm trying to sleep."

"Yeah, you only want to hear them scream at night," murmured George.

"What?"

"I said, what have you been looking for out there?"

"Well, I've seen a 'George' sign, a 'John' sign, lots of 'Paul' signs...not sure what that one there says," Ringo pointed them out in the frenzied crowd. "Look, no signs for me!"

"They must've forgotten their 'Ringo' signs at home."

"Thanks for trying to make me feel better. Didn't work, but it's the effort that counts."

Paul popped his head in the room. "Lazing around as usual, I see. Do either of you know where John is?"

"He's in the tub," George responded, still facing the window. "Go join him if you like."

"No, he's not," said Ringo. "He's laying in his bed."

"Go join him if you like," George repeated.

"Gosh, George, you should go into stand-up," Paul deadpanned as he left the room. "Thanks, Ringo, you're an angel."

Ringo beamed. "Aww, you're welcome."

"Angels have wings, not rings," murmured George.

"...what?"

"Huh?"

After a few more seconds of walking, Paul reached his destination. When he opened the bedroom door, he found John face down in his sheets.

"Johnny?" he called to him.

"Whaaat?" came the man's muffled reply.

"Are you in the mood to write now?"

"I dunno...I'm feeling a bit down."

"What for?"

"My lifeee..." John pulled his face out of the covers. "Brian's been figuratively riding my ass on this tour and it's killing me. I think I'm suffering from sexual withdrawal. I haven't even had a good ten minutes alone with me hand. You couldn't imagine how congested I feel. I swear, one of these days, it's all gonna come spilling out my--"

Paul cut him off with a laugh he'd been suppressing and turned back to the door. "I'll go get some paper."

John grabbed his wrist. "Paul."

"Hm?"

"Could you...y'know?" He winked for a split second.

The two engaged in an intense stare, well aware of what John was implying...  
Until Paul burst into giggles, with John following suit just a second after.

"Quit messing about, we have work to do!" Paul chuckled on his way out of the room.

It was funny. John was always kidding around with him like that. If he WAS kidding, for that matter.

Paul stopped in his tracks. He glanced back at the doorway.

That wasn't too far fetched, was it? Had John not just literally asked Paul to...please him? After all, he was completely straight-faced before Paul made it seem like a joke...

The bassist shook his head and pressed on in his quest for paper.  
How silly of him to think that John was doing anything more than fooling around when he said things like that.

Finally, Paul found one of his journals sitting on a table. He made sure to pick up a couple pens as well.  
On his way back to John, he heard George and Ringo snickering together. The thought that they were laughing about him and John crossed his mind, but he ignored it.

_"He's in the tub. Go join him if you like."_

John was seemingly back to normal when Paul returned. He had his off days...  
They tore some paper out of the journal and got straight to work.

_"He's laying in his bed."_

_"Go join him if you like."_

Paul let out a quiet grumble as he wrote.  
He realized he had rhymed these words 1,000,000 times before...all of it felt so recycled. But then he had to shrug and remind himself that, uhhh, how did the Americans say it? "If it ain't broke, don't fix it"...? Yeah, that was it.  
So, he wrote the word "love" for the 1,000,001st time. It always seemed to worm its way into the songs he and John wrote. It was strange. The word just came rather naturally to them. "Love".

_"Could you...y'know?"_

Ugh, Paul couldn't stop thinking those foolish thoughts from earlier...  
They just kept resurfacing in his mind. He was sure the emotions were evident on his face now and it wouldn't be long before John noticed and asked him what he was thinking about.  
He might as well go for it.

"Johnny?"

John looked up from his harmonica. "Mm?"

"You know...when you say those things?" Paul strained himself to ask. This was harder than he'd thought it'd be. "When you talk to me, almost as though you have romantic interest in me?"

His heart practically leapt out of his chest when a noise blasted out of the harmonica.

"It's called flirting, Macca," smirked John.

"Yeah, well...!" Paul looked him right in the eye. "When you flirt with me, are you just messing around? Or do you mean it?"

"Of course I mean it. I mean every word of it."

Paul's eyes widened as he studied John's face for insincerity. He'd spoken with such firmness and tact that anyone who didn't know John would swear he was speaking from the bottom of his heart. But he was capable of faking that with very little effort. So, Paul just stared, uncertain, until...

"Hahahahahaha!" cackled John. "You were actually blushing! I saw you, your cheeks were flushed! You thought I was serious for a second there, didn't you, ya queen?!"

"ME?" Paul countered smirkingly. "You're the bloody queen, your face was practically on fire!"

"We're a proper PAIR of queens!"

"You're not a queen, you're a joker."

"Ha! Poker jokes."

"Yeah, yeah, I got that."

The band mates' laughter faded out, as the songwriting process returned to its normalcy.   
But Paul hadn't forgotten the look on John's face, in his eyes. It wasn't a look of mischief or deceit. It was a look of love.

_"Of course I do. I mean every word of it."_

And Paul smiled to himself, knowing that he did.


End file.
